Love Roller Coaster
by Jet Wolf
Summary: It was a terrifying mountain of danger, and Usagi was very brave.


**Standard disclaimer:** The characters aren't mine. This should come as no surprise. I am simply a teller of stories that occasionally claw their way desperately out of my head.

**Notes:** An embarrassingly late birthday 'fic for funakounasoul on Tumblr, who rather enjoys some fluffy Rei/Usagi goodness. I have attempted to deliver this.

_(29 October 2013)_

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**Love Roller Coaster**

It was coming and it was huge. A lump formed in Usagi's throat. She tried to be brave, tried to swallow it away, but it stuck there, full of threats and promises. Desperately, she scanned her surroundings, trying to find some way out of this. There was none. There were no alternatives.

She turned to Rei, at her side as always. There were so many things she wanted to tell her, so many things she'd never had the chance to say. But Rei was focused straight ahead with a flat, glassy stare, and Usagi knew there was no time left.

She closed her eyes, latched herself to Rei's arm, and screamed as it came.

"Really?"

Usagi cracked open one eye as the ladybug roller coaster pulled up to the platform. Rei still had that flat stare, but now it was leveled at her rather than the world as a general concept.

"What?" Usagi said, still wrapped around Rei's arm and not caring. "It was scary!"

"It was a speed bump," corrected Rei as the ride attendant lifted the entirely unnecessary safety bar.

"It was a TERRIFYING MOUNTAIN OF DANGER."

The roller coaster car was technically too small for anyone over the age of three, and with Usagi attached to her, it was several very undignified seconds before Rei was able to climb out of it. She half helped, half hauled Usagi out of the car after her, making sure to give the amused attendant her best "laugh and I will travel back through time and kill your ancestors, trust me on this, I know someone who can help me make this happen" glare.

"It was a mountain of danger," Usagi insisted, "and I was very brave."

Rei led them away from the ride and back out onto the main carnival thoroughfare. "So brave, how you burst my eardrum."

"You were supposed to cuddle back!" Usagi jiggled Rei's arm for emphasis. "Don't you even know how this WORKS?"

Rei bristled immediately. "Of course I do! How was I supposed to know you'd react to something so childish?" She gestured to the carousel as they passed by. "I suppose next you'll need saving from the evil nightmare ponies!"

A nearby couple ushered their daughter away from the strange blonde girl screaming in loud, exhaustive detail about the meanness of Rei-chan.

The bickering had intensified by the time they reached the midway. Rei was no longer walking so much as stomping with her hands curled into tight fists at her side. Somewhere along the way Usagi had disentangled herself from Rei, which left her free to flap her arms around like an angry flightless bird.

They were both so intent on their squabbling that neither noticed as an enterprising game booth attendant slipped a baseball into Usagi's hand, pointed her toward a small pyramid of bottles, and waited.

Sure enough the ball flew out of Usagi's hand just as she was working up to a point about Rei's general lack of observation skills. It clipped the left-hand corner of the pyramid, but was enough to send a couple of bottles clattering to the ground.

"A winner!" the carnie yelled in a booming voice that scared absolutely everyone within earshot, including Usagi and Rei. "A winner, congratulations!"

"Me?" Usagi said, pointing at herself in confusion. She looked to Rei. Rei shrugged and shook her head.

"Congratulations, young lady!" the carnie said again, and he shoved a plush toy into Usagi's hand.

"I won!" Usagi squealed, bouncing up and down. "I won! I— Oh."

Now she'd taken a second to look at her prize, her enthusiasm drained. It was the most uninspired bit of stuffed animal workmanship to ever roll off of an assembly line. It was a circle. Just a piece of cheap blue fuzz stuffed with the barest minimum to qualify as "plush". Rei peered at it with a disdainfully raised eyebrow while Usagi turned it over. She hoped to discover some secret. Perhaps a couple of eyes and a smile made out of black felt and barely glued in place. It could be a cute circle! Part of an adorable punctuation mark!

Identical blue sameness greeted her. It was bitterly disappointing.

The carnie didn't miss a beat. "That's just the beginning! Why with only five of those, you can get one of THESE."

He swept his arm in the grandest gesture either Usagi or Rei had ever seen, and as they were magical girls pretty well used to all manner of grand gestures, that was saying something. It was like a thousand wind chimes all tinkled at once, like a platoon of fairies lived just under his skin and each fired a gun loaded only with sparkles. This carnie had revealed the entrance to no less than plushie nirvana.

It seemed to rise for miles above their heads, these three walls covered with soft, fluffy, adorable stuffed animals. Kittens and frogs and pigs and turtles and basically any animal that could be condensed into soft cute versions. And seated above them all were a giant puppy and a giant bear, each the size of a small human. The reigning stuffed gods of .

"Five of the medium ones get you one of THOSE," the carnie explained, pointing with what seemed all due holy reverence to the bear and puppy. "And the more bottles you hit, the more circles you win."

He leaned on the counter of his booth, lazily spinning one of the baseballs in front of him. "Care to try your luck?"

"YES," Usagi said without hesitation. "Yes, oh yes."

"Usagi, these things are rigged," cautioned Rei, though she hadn't yet managed to tear her eyes away from the plushie glory. "You almost never—"

The sound of bottles falling interrupted her, and then Usagi had another stuffed circle and a smile of pure smug satisfaction.

But her second throw went wide, and her third grazed tantalizingly close but also missed. She made an irritated noise and was reaching for her wallet when Rei slapped money on the counter.

"I'll do it."

"You don't have to," Usagi said, though she stepped aside when Rei gestured for her to move.

Rei tossed a baseball in the air, testing its weight. "We don't want to be here all day."

"Well at least let me pay for it," Usagi said, and began to fish out a few notes.

A hand covered hers, and she looked up to see a warm smile. "Leave it to Rei-chan."

At Rei's confident wink, Usagi felt blood rush to her face and her stomach do a happy dance. She stood back to watch the magic happen.

Nine baseballs and one stuffed circle later, and Usagi was still waiting for the magic.

"Hey, Rei-chan?" She made sure to keep her voice a very pleasant and unassuming neutral. This was a delicate situation.

Rei was seething. Rei was a tense bundle of locked muscles and aggravation. Even her hair seemed pissed, with random strands sticking out from her head at spiky angles.

She didn't answer. She barely blinked. She slapped more money on the counter and tapped her fingers impatiently as a very content and satisfied carnie delivered three more baseballs. Instantly one was in Rei's hand and thrown with all her might at the bottles.

It hit the edge of table, insolently failing to upset even one bottle, and then came flying back toward them. Both Usagi and the carnie yelped and ducked for cover. Rei stayed exactly where she was, glaring at the ball, daring it to hit her. It sailed over her head, passing close enough to ruffle her hair. Then it was gone. Rei didn't look where. It didn't matter. That ball would no longer help her win a plushie blue dot, and therefore it was irrelevant to anything in Rei's life.

"Hey, Rei-chan?" Usagi tried again as she slowly got back up. "Maybe we should just go? Look, we have three now!" She waggled the circles. "We can make an ellipse!"

The carnie laughed, and Usagi smiled her thanks, but Rei failed to see the humour. "I'm not leaving," she said, but she said it in THAT tone. It was the same voice Usagi heard when Rei was promising to roast bad guys and chastise someone in the name of things. This was not good.

"Didn't you say something about protecting me from evil nightmare ponies?" Usagi chuckled too loudly and tried to tug on Rei's arm, but it was like trying to convince a building to drop everything and go for a stroll.

Rei ignored the question. "Which do you want?" she replied instead and pointed at the huge toy gods who now seemed to be mocking them from on high.

Usagi considered trying harder to get Rei to drop this. She prided herself on knowing more than a few tricks for breaking through whatever state of mind Rei thought she'd secured around herself. But she was dealing with Stubborn Rei now, this was Rei With A Goal. Even if she managed to get through to her, there'd likely be a fight. A real one this time too, not like the dozen or so squabbles a day which was just how she and Rei worked.

She'd been enjoying their date too much to do that to it.

"The puppy," Usagi said with a sigh.

Rei nodded. "One puppy coming up."

She threw and missed.

This became a recurring theme for Rei, and in order to prevent herself from transforming and setting fire to everything that burned, she had to sink into a zone which consisted only of baseballs and bottles. The problem was that she utterly lost track of how long she'd been trying to win the stupid dog.

She was running low on cash, she knew that much, and she vaguely remembered shoving some at Usagi at one point and telling her to go buy some cotton candy or something, but ...

Where was Usagi anyway?

Blinking weary eyes that had been focused too hard for too long, Rei turned and scanned the surrounding area. She didn't have to look far. Usagi had claimed a bench almost directly opposite the booth and was sprawled across it with her head tipped over the back. Rei couldn't hear the snores from this distance, but she was pretty sure they were happening anyway.

Despite being asleep, Usagi didn't look comfortable and she certainly didn't look like she was having fun. Rei winced as a deep pang of guilt lanced through her. There was still one ball left in this round, but she left it on the counter, untouched.

Rei knelt down in front of Usagi, who yes, was definitely snoring. "Sleepy head," she teased gently while shaking Usagi's leg to wake her up. It was difficult to not tickle her awake, but Rei's guilt pangs were still strong enough to override that.

Barely.

Usagi stirred, and the smile she made on seeing who it was made Rei wonder again how she'd let herself get so distracted.

"Are you done now?" Usagi asked hopefully.

"I'm done," said Rei, and produced her prize: a very soft, very cute, very green little frog toy. It was considerably smaller than the puppy, embarrassingly so really, but Rei did her best to push that aside.

It helped, the way Usagi's eyes lit up as Rei hopped the stuffed animal across the bench toward her. Rei pantomimed the frog gearing up for a big jump, then it "leapt" through the air and booped Usagi on the nose (Rei made a big kissing sound as it did so, much to Usagi's delight) before landing in her lap.

"I love it!" Usagi squealed, and scooped the frog into a huge hug.

Rei rested her chin on Usagi's knee, for the moment utterly content to just watch her.

"He needs a name," Usagi decided. She eyed the frog critically for a long moment, then said, "Frog-san!"

Rei's chin slipped off of Usagi's leg. "Are you serious?"

"I'm completely serious!" She looked at him again, and whatever she saw there only cemented the idea. "Frog-san, definitely."

"Usagi, you can't name him 'Frog-san'," Rei said, half demanding, half pleading.

"I can name him whatever I want!" Usagi's arm curled protectively around Frog-san. "You gave him to me, so he's mine, and I get to name him. If you don't like it, get your own!"

"Fine! I'll just—"

Rei got as far as turning back toward the booth. The carnie was waiting. He waved the ball invitingly.

"Yeah, no, that's okay," Rei said, hurrying to her feet.

Usagi nodded in vigorous agreement and joined her. "Good choice, very good."

"Let's go quickly."

They didn't run away from the booth, exactly, but it was a very near thing. When they finally slowed – more like came to a screeching halt – it was in the food area, which surprised absolutely no one. Usagi demanded taiyaki for being so patient and understanding, but when she demanded a crepe for the same, it became clear to Rei that she was standing on the precipice of a food/guilt loop from which she might never escape. A distraction was needed.

She snatched at the most obvious structure around. "We should go on the ferris wheel."

Usagi didn't turn away from the inviting crepe menu, but she did eye Rei suspiciously.

"I mean it's so HIGH and SCARY, isn't it?" Rei asked with the most painfully direct casualness of all time.

It did nothing to lessen Usagi's suspicion, and her eyes narrowed to slits. "Maybe?"

"Oh you're right." Rei's sigh was packed with regret and drama, and she brushed the idea away with her hand. "I'm sure it would only lead to you being afraid and me having to cuddle you protectively."

Usagi was now mere inches from Rei and peering up at her like she was a trickster god. "I like those things," she said warily.

Rei patted her shoulder. "But crepes, I know."

A war raged within Usagi. She studied Rei, considered the crepe menu, then back to Rei. "There'll be cuddles?"

"Who knows?" Rei replied innocently, but the corner of her mouth twitched up in promise.

Still not entirely convinced, Usagi turned from the stall and led the way out of the food pavilion. Rei was doing a poor job of hiding how pleased she was with herself, a fact which did not escape Usagi's attention.

"I want a crepe later," Usagi told her.

"So what else is new?" Rei replied.

By the time they were seated in a car and on their way up the ferris wheel, all thoughts of food had vanished, alongside ideas of scariness and protection. The view was just too spectacular. Both girls peered out over Tokyo, nudging each other and enthusing over every new discovery.

"I think I can see the shrine!" Usagi said when they were near the top.

"Where?" Rei craned her neck in all angles trying to spot what Usagi was looking at. "I can't see it."

"Right over there." Usagi pointed and was so intent on somehow transferring her sight that she was completely unprepared when Rei was suddenly in her space. She breathed in the faint smell of incense that forever said "Rei", and then there was only one view she cared about. She kept her hand extended but otherwise pulled away.

Rei was peering down the length of Usagi's arm. Her expression was a picture of intense concentration, with furrowed eyebrows and lips pressed in a thin, determined line. It was Rei, it was so utterly, painfully Rei that Usagi felt her heart might melt right there.

"I still can't see it," Rei grumbled.

"That's a shame. It's so beautiful."

It was impossible to miss how Usagi said it, and it made no sense. Rei loved the shrine too, but seriously. She looked up, a derisive comment already forming, and was instantly captured by Usagi's open, unflinching adoration.

"You're beautiful," Usagi said, and in that way Usagi had of saying things when they weren't opinions, they were facts.

Rei tried to think up a snappy comeback, something witty and charming. She never felt in control of these moments. These wonderful terrifying moments where she forgot how to be everything she'd always strove to be.

All she could do was blush furiously.

And when Usagi leaned in, all Rei could do was close her eyes, and when Usagi kissed her, all Rei could do was kiss back.

Then when the ride made a sick lurch, all Rei could do was scrabble for the safety bar and hang on.

"Wow!" Usagi exclaimed with a very proud smile. "I'm good!"

"It's not you, you idiot!"

Usagi glanced down, and confirmed (with a touch of disappointment) that it was indeed not her and was instead the seven-foot tall monster throwing things and generally wrecking what was otherwise a perfectly perfect opportunity for cuddles.

She glared at it with every ounce of indignant aggravation she could manage. "I won't forgive you," she vowed, and Rei nodded her complete agreement.

They were of course far too high for the monster to hear them, and it was pretty well occupied with the random destruction of carnival property anyway. It looked, in fact, like part of the carnival itself come to horrible, ransacking life. It seemed a mishmash of assorted games, including one giant strength-test mallet arm, carrying a giant paper net possibly used for catching the biggest goldfish of all time, and a torso comprised of aggravatingly familiar bottles.

"Hold it right there!"

The monster's giant mallet arm missed the booth it was aiming for and crashed harmlessly into the ground. It spun around with a puzzled grunt.

Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars stood shoulder-to-shoulder on the roof of the ferris wheel's control booth, much to the surprise of the woman operating the ride. She wisely decided to just lay low and wait for her break.

Sailor Moon jabbed her finger at the monster. "Love high above the city should be allowed to grow wings and soar into tomorrow!"

"How dare you interfere with two beautiful girls out on a date!" Sailor Mars accused.

"For getting in the way of this love roller coaster!"

"This festival of romance! Sailor Mars!"

"Sailor Moon!"

"We'll punish you!"

The monster was unimpressed. It effortlessly scooped up a nearby bench and pitched it at the Senshi. They leapt out of the way in opposite directions, and Mars didn't waste any time returning fire.

"Burning Mandala!" she called from the air, and shot a volley of flaming discs at the creature.

This only seemed to inspire it. Bending in half at the waist, it shot a ring at Mars, a mutant version of those used in the ring toss. As it flew toward her, it expanded in size, easily large enough to go over her. The moment she hit the ground she jumped out of its path. The ring missed her, barely, closing over a trash can instead. As soon as it was partway down its length, it constricted, crushing the trashcan in the process.

The monster was tracking Mars to try again when something bounced off of its middle. It turned, and Sailor Moon threw another ball that bounced harmlessly off the bottles that comprised its torso.

Again nothing happened, but the monster took a swing at Moon with its giant mallet.

Her reaction was much too slow and for one long, paralyzing moment, she was sure this was the end. Then Mars tackled her out of the way and it sailed harmlessly over their heads.

"Haven't we had enough of baseballs for one day?" Mars asked, watching the monster closely for its next move.

"It was instinctive!" yelled Moon in reply, then yelped as Mars shoved her back out of the way of the mallet swinging down toward them.

"Throwing balls is instinctive," Mars shot back, easily ducking the hammer. "Moving when your head's about to get bashed in, apparently that's too much to—"

She'd been so intent on berating Moon that Mars had taken her eye off the monster. Finding the mallet ineffective, it had switched to the much lighter and faster net. But rather than being made of paper, as it originally appeared, it was a fine mesh of wire filaments. As Mars soon discovered, each were fully and very painfully electrified.

The instant the paddle made contact, Mars screamed, then she was airborne. The impact propelled her through a nearby booth and out of sight.

"Mars!"

Sailor Moon didn't hesitate. She ran in the direction Mars had gone, following the path of destruction where Mars had impacted like a small comet crashing to earth. The carnage ended in the center of a collapsed booth, and Moon immediately began flinging boards and other debris aside.

She was panting, hadn't even realized how much she was shaking, until she caught the first glimpse of red fuku. Within seconds Mars was completely free, and Moon dropped to her knees next to her.

"Mars?" Her voice was quiet and unsteady. She was afraid to ask again, afraid of what it might mean if there was no answer. "Rei-chan?"

Slowly and painfully, Mars cracked one eye open. Sailor Moon sobbed in relief and flung her arms around Mars' neck, which did little to help the pain situation.

"Ow," Mars croaked, sounding like she hadn't had anything to drink in weeks.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" wailed Moon as the nearby ground grew dark and tear-soaked.

Mars looked around, not sure where she was or how exactly she'd gotten there, but with really only one important question to ask: "Is the monster dead?"

Moon only tightened her embrace and buried her nose deeper into Mars' neck. "Uhm."

"Sailor Moon, did you kill the monster yet?" It was technically a question, but each word was delivered in flat, forceful precision that didn't really leave room for anything but the answer they both already knew. "Usagi …"

"I was worried about you!" Sailor Moon pushed back from Mars, crossed her arms, and shot her the fiercest glare she could possibly manage.

It was the poutiest expression of all time, and Mars' stern frown dissolved into a smile, quite despite herself. "I'm fine," she reassured Moon, and tried to pat her hand. Her muscles still weren't responding properly and it turned out more like a twitch, but the effort was sincere. "Go get it."

Moon cast an uncertain look over her shoulder, suddenly looking very small and alone. "But …"

"No buts! You can do it! So shut up and do it!"

Sailor Moon leveled a glare at Mars. "You're not very motivational sometimes, you know."

Mars still couldn't move her arms and legs very well, but her eyes worked just fine, and she took great delight in rolling them. "Fine, you want motivation? It'll destroy the crepe stand if you don't hurry up."

Instantly, Sailor Moon was on her feet. "I can't allow that!"

Without another moment's hesitation, she stomped off to find the monster. The sounds of battle soon reached Mars' ears and she smiled to herself. She was a PERFECT motivator. Usagi didn't know what she was talking about.

By the time the monster had been destroyed (Usagi said she threw her tiara through all the bottles and shattered them. Rei wasn't sure if that was true, but she appreciated the story regardless.), Rei was able to move again. Everything still hurt, but that only made Usagi dote on her, and that was a trade-off Rei could handle.

What's more, Usagi was feeling so brave and proud, she'd decided to step up to another level of roller coaster.

"This'll be great!"

They'd been standing in line for about twenty minutes for the Tokyo Screamer, and the end was now in sight. Usagi was swinging her and Rei's clasped hands back and forth and bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"It's pretty great," Rei agreed, peering around the crowd to try and get a sense of how soon they'd be able to ride.

"Forget the kiddie coasters! It's time for Usagi to shine! I'm the biggest and bravest and—"

"Let's not push it."

Usagi stuck her tongue out at Rei. "The BIGGEST and BRAVEST, and I need a roller coaster to match! I will … I'll …"

They were close enough now to see people getting off of the ride. As they watched, one guy stumbled drunkenly, flashed a thumbs up, and then puked into a nearby trash can.

"I'll DIE!" Usagi wailed, suddenly grabbing at Rei's arm like she was trying to climb it.

Rei hissed at Usagi to calm down, but now her thin bubble of confidence had popped, she'd become hyper aware of everything. Her head jerked around at the sound of the cranking gears dragging the roller coaster cars up several thousand miles for the first plunge into the abyss. She heard the screams of what must surely be stark terror of people trapped on an amusement park ride to hell. Even the ride sign itself swirled before her eyes, becoming the face of every enemy she'd ever fought, all laughing, all daring her to ride.

Usagi did not take that dare. Usagi screamed and ran.

Left alone with a now very attentive audience, Rei gave a tight, strained laugh. "There must be fresh funnel cakes!" she said far too brightly, then ducked under the ropes and ran after Usagi.

Rei didn't need to rely on either her psychic powers or her Senshi connection to her princess to discover where Usagi had gone. There was really only one place.

As warm arms slipped around her from behind, Usagi snuggled back into Rei. "I saved you a spot!" she said, gesturing to the nearly non-existent line for the ladybug roller coaster.

"Thanks," Rei said sincerely. Amused, but sincerely. "Think you're ready for this?"

Usagi puffed up with pride. "Well I DID defeat a monster all by myself today." She turned around in Rei's arms so they were facing each other. "I mean it IS a terrifying mountain of danger, but you'll totally be there to protect me, right?"

Rei shrugged. "Eh, we'll see."

She grinned as Usagi swatted her on the arm then kissed her on the cheek. "Rei-chan, you're so mean."


End file.
